1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a personal cleansing article and more specifically to a personal cleansing article wherein a toilet bar composed of skin cleansing and optional aesthetic, skin benefit and/or skin active compositions contains a fibrous structure disposed at least partially throughout the bar.
2. The Related Art
Toilet bar skin cleaning properties are well known. An ideal bar composition not only cleans but provides a large quantity of lather and leaves the skin feeling comfortable. Consumers also desire to obtain toilet bars with good hardness, low mush, and that optionally contain appealing aesthetic ingredients such as fragrances, one or more skin conditioning agents such as emollients for moisturizing the skin and one or more skin active agents for treating the skin according to individual preferences and needs. To accomplish this, a wide variety of fibrous structures have been suggested for inclusion in toilet bars.
GB patent no. 1,473,147 issued to Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company on May 11, 1977 describes pads of nonwoven fibers containing a solid core of surfactant material for cleaning the human body. Fibers used may be at least 3 cm length and 20 to 200 microns in diameter. Two manufacturing processes are described. The first entangles a loose assembly of crimped fibers around a shaped solid core of soap via felting needles. The second process pre-needles an assembly of loose fibers into a seamless ball and subsequently requires injecting a molten soap into the interior of the ball. U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,550 issued to Campbell on Feb. 26, 1980 discloses a similar article and manufacturing method as described in GB 1,473,147, Both of the above mentioned prior art examples are not economically feasible nor do the examples provide the benefits of lather generation and exfoliation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,225 issued to Schubert on Nov. 13, 1990 describes a bathing and cleansing article comprising an internal cavity into which the bar soap can be inserted. The article is constructed of elastic, resilient synthetic fibrous batt or open-cell chemical foam. This structure is disadvantageous since by enclosing bar soaps with the batt or foam structure, excess water is retained within the bar soap structure causing premature dissolution and softening of the soap.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,2221,506 issued to Dulin on Jun. 22, 1993 describes a bar soap for personal use having a structural center selected from an open celled sponge material, or woven or nonwoven organic filamentary material. Specifically the core comprises 5-%- to 50-% of the volume of soap bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,079 issued to Ruff on Feb. 20, 2001 describes a scrubbing soap bar that includes an imbedded scrubber in a defined portion of the bar and which is partially exposed such that fingers can be inserted for improved handability of the soap bar.
U.S. Publication No. 2003/0220212 to DeVitis and published on Nov. 27, 2003 describes a reinforced bar soap with the purpose to prolong the usage of conventional bar soap and reduce consumption. This invention contemplates a reinforcement member in an interior portion thereof. The reinforcement member is preferably at a core position in the interior portion. Reinforced bar soaps are provided, for example, which comprise at least one mesh-type reinforcement member.
U.S. Publication No. 2004/0033915 to Aleles et al. and published on Feb. 19, 2004 describes a cleansing bar having improved latherability containing discrete elements having a length to diameter ratio of from about 50 to 1 to about 100,000 to 1; i.e. a non-continuous network of fibers without fiber to fiber bonds. There is no disclosure of a continuous network of fibers used in the cleansing bar.
U.S. Publication No. 2002/0025215, to Duden et al and published on Feb. 28, 2002 discloses a cleansing article marketed as J & J Body Scrub® which comprise a solid cleanser holder comprising at least one textured film having texture variations including at least one aperture and a solid cleanser, wherein the textured film surrounds the solid cleanser.
Surprisingly it has been found that a personal cleansing article composed of a toilet bar having specific percent energy loss, porosity, and/or yield stress property(ies) combined with a batting layer at least partially encompassed by the bar can be prepared. Such an article has improved lather generation, good aesthetics and beneficial in-use sensory results to the user.